The mask that inspired the Seattle Seahawks logo was unveiled at a press preview event for the Burke Museum's exhibit "Here & Now: Native Artists Inspired." See the mask for yourself November 22, 2014 through July 27, 2015 at the Burke!

The 8 1/2 foot-long Columbian mammoth tusk found in Seattle in February 2014, is wrapped in a plaster cast, kind of like a broken arm or leg, while it dries out. So we handed visitors a pen to wish it well!

A Columbian mammoth tusk was discovered at an AMLI Residential construction site in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood. See photos and video of the tusk being excavated from the site and transported to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Sharlene Santana is an evolutionary biologist and the new curator of mammals here at the Burke Museum. She studies how behavior, diet, anatomy and function result in bursts of diversification in tropical bats -- mostly from Panama, Costa Rica and Venezuela. While Sharlene releases most of the bats she studies in the field, she collects some specimens to help preserve the biodiversity of these increasingly threatened habitats.

Photographer TJ Watt regularly explores the remaining old-growth rainforests on Vancouver Island, B.C. These are some of the world's most spectacular old-growth temperate (non-tropical) rainforests, where trees have trunks as wide as living rooms and grow as tall as skyscrapers. Sadly, 75% of the island's productive old-growth forests have already been logged, including 90% of the valley bottoms. While hiking in March 2010, he took a photograph now known as "Last Stands."

The Burke's fossil preparator, Bruce Crowley and a team of volunteers excavated a giant turtle - but finding it was only the beginning. We set up a camera to capture time-lapse video as our staff and volunteers prep the giant turtle in our fossil lab to show just what it takes to uncover the turtle.

Studying the evolution of plants and climate change's impact on vegetation helps us better understand how our modern ecosystem evolved to be what it is today. Follow Regan Dunn, a graduate student in the University of Washington's Department of Biology, as she collects fossil plant remains in Costa Rica as part of a study with Burke Museum curator Caroline Strömberg.

One night a year, Burke members are invited behind the scenes of the museum. Behind-the-Scenes Night is an exclusive opportunity for members to see the Burke collections, meet curators and collection managers, and learn about current research. Members will discover every Burke division, including the Herbarium, archaeology, ornithology (birds), ethnology, ichthyology (fish), mammalogy, paleobotany, vertebrate and invertebrate paleontology, and entomology (spiders & insects).

Visitors accessed Burke knowledge on the natural and cultural world by bringing their heirlooms and objects on Artifact ID Day. Burke experts examined items ranging from fossils to Pacific Northwest Native American art. A record turnout with incredible objects made this year's Artifact ID Day a lively event!

Ever wanted to touch an otter? See a full-sized lion up close? These are just a few experiences visitors had at this year's annual family event, Meet the Mammals. Hundreds of specimens from the Burke's mammalogy collections were on display, with experts on-hand to answer questions.

University of Washington Daily's "Double Shot" came to the Burke Museum's mammalogy collections to learn more about the squirrels on campus. They spoke with Collections Manager Jeff Bradley about the changes in the local squirrel populations over time.

July 16, 2015

By Stan ChernicoffIn the past four days, some of you may have spent a thoroughly unnerving twenty minutes reading Kathryn Schulz's "The Really Big One"—a terrifying portrait of the likely effects and…
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July 8, 2015

By Rod CrawfordMany people try to avoid spiders, but spider enthusiast Bob Thomson sought them out and collected them for the Burke Museum—contributing more than 9,000 specimens and hundreds of photographs!…
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June 4, 2015

Australian Brush-turkey chick shortly after hatching and emergingfrom incubation mound and showing well-developed flight feathers.Photo: Burke Museum.By Sharon Birks Did you know that not all birds sit…
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May 20, 2015

Brace yourselves, dino-lovers: Burke Museum paleontologists have discovered the first dinosaur fossil ever found in Washington state!The fossil is a partial left thigh bone of a theropod dinosaur, the…
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April 29, 2015

University of Washington student and Husky football player Danny Shelton is a familiar face at the Burke Museum. As a student he completed several independent study courses at the Burke with Holly Barker,…
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